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Tag: 2010

  • PRESS RELEASE : Michael Gove responds to the findings of the National Audit Office report on academies

    PRESS RELEASE : Michael Gove responds to the findings of the National Audit Office report on academies

    The press release issued by the Department for Education on 10 September 2010.

    Michael Gove reaffirms the government’s belief that autonomy for schools leads to higher performance and sustained improvement.

    Michael Gove has today commented on the National Audit Office report on the Academies programme.

    He said:

    I welcome the findings of this NAO report. It confirms our belief that the Academies programme is working, reporting a clear lift in performance after schools convert to academies, confirming that they are improving faster than other comparable schools and that they continue to serve the most disadvantaged communities and pupils. We also know that pupils on free school meals have improved faster in academies than similar pupils nationally.

    The experience of the city technology colleges in England, and other reforms across the world, shows that giving schools autonomy successfully drives up performance, and that this improvement is sustained. The performance of the large academy chains is already improving at a rapid rate. This year the Harris Federation reports a ten percentage point increase across all their academies, and ARK academies have reported a 13 percentage point increase.

    We have already taken prompt action on the NAO recommendations as we strive to strengthen the programme even further. The Academies programme is helping children from all backgrounds to get a better education – that is why we are allowing more schools to become academies, and are giving real power and autonomy back to schools and teachers.

    Text of NAO Report.

  • PRESS RELEASE : Children’s Minister unveils plans for education of SEN pupils

    PRESS RELEASE : Children’s Minister unveils plans for education of SEN pupils

    The press release issued by the Department for Education on 10 September 2010.

    Ministers are considering how to ensure parents can send their child with SEN or disabilities to their preferred educational setting – whether that is a mainstream school, special school or an academy.

    The plans were outlined today as Children’s Minister Sarah Teather called on parents, charities, teachers and LAs to contribute to the Government’s SEN Green Paper.

    The Green Paper, to be published in the autumn, aims to improve radically the entire SEN system and will cover issues including school choice, early identification and assessment, funding and family support.

    Ministers are considering a range of options including how to

    • give parents a choice of educational settings that can meet their child’s needs
    • transform funding for children with SEN and disabilities and their families, making the system more transparent and cost-effective while maintaining a high quality of service
    • prevent the unnecessary closure of special schools, and involve parents in any decisions about the future of special schools
    • support young people with SEN and disabilities post-16 to help them succeed after education
    • improve diagnosis and assessment to identify children with additional needs earlier.

    Children’s Minister Sarah Teather said:

    Children with special educational needs and disabilities should have the same opportunities as other children, but the current system is so adversarial that too often this doesn’t happen. I want parents, teachers, charities, teaching unions and local authorities to come forward with the changes they think are needed to make the system better for children with SEN and their families.

    Parents should be in control of their child’s education and future. Importantly, they must be involved in discussions and decisions about the support they need rather than feel they have to battle the system. I want to make it easier for parents to choose where their child is educated.

    I want to look at every aspect of SEN – from assessment and identification to funding and education. We need to strip away the cumbersome bureaucracy but ensure there is a better, more comprehensive service for families.

    Christine Lenehan, Director, Council for Disabled Children, said:

    CDC is delighted by the Government’s continued focus on the needs of disabled children and those with SEN. We hope people involved in the lives of disabled children take this opportunity to respond to the call for views.

    Julie Jennings, Chair, Special Educational Consortium, said:

    I am delighted that disabled children and children with special educational needs have been made a high priority by the Government. I am pleased, too, that there is no suggestion that we are starting from a blank sheet of paper – so much evidence has been brought together over the last few years that this invitation to contribute to the Green Paper is rightly focused on setting priorities and practical action that is going to make a real difference.

    To support fundamental changes to the SEN and disability system, ministers are looking at how to identify children’s needs earlier, develop fairer and more transparent funding arrangements, and streamline assessments to make life easier for parents and families.

    Ministers are seeking a wide range of views to help them develop proposals for consultation that are practical to implement, reduce bureaucracy and build on current effective practice as well as make the most of the available funds.

    Alongside the launch of the Call for Views, the Children’s Minister today confirmed the end of the national disabled children’s services parental survey. Only a limited number of parents could respond to the survey and ministers want all parents to have the opportunity to get involved in how local services are designed and delivered. The Government welcomes views on how to strengthen the process for ensuring parents’ views affect the services their family receives locally.

  • PRESS RELEASE : Written ministerial statement by Michael Gove on the Wolf review of vocational education

    PRESS RELEASE : Written ministerial statement by Michael Gove on the Wolf review of vocational education

    The press release issued by the Department for Education on 9 September 2010.

    The Education Secretary has commissioned a review of 14 to 19 vocational education to make it fit for purpose.

    The Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove, has asked Professor Alison Wolf to carry out an independent review of vocational education.

    Professor Wolf will look at the organisation of vocational education and its responsiveness to a changing labour market, and will consider ways to increase incentives for young people to participate. The review will also take explicit account of good practice in a selection of developed economies.

    Professor Wolf will examine:

    institutional arrangements
    funding mechanisms including arrangements for who bears the cost of qualifications
    progression from vocational education to work, higher education and higher-level training
    the role of the third sector, private providers, employers and awarding bodies.
    She is due to submit a final report in spring 2011, which will include recommendations on how vocational education can be improved.

    Further information
    The letter from the Secretary of State to Alison Wolf is available to download.

    If you have any questions about the review you can contact the Review Secretariat at wolf.review@education.gsi.gov.uk.

    Further information about a call for evidence will be made available shortly on this site.

    Written ministerial statement on vocational education
    The Secretary of State for Education (Michael Gove): For many years our education system has failed to value practical education, choosing to give far greater emphasis to purely academic achievements. This has left a gap in the country’s skills base and, as a result, a shortage of appropriately trained and educated young people to fulfil the needs of our employers. To help support our economic recovery, we need to ensure that this position does not continue and in future we are able to meet the needs of our labour market. I am today announcing an independent review of vocational education which will be chaired by Professor Alison Wolf.

    To enable us to achieve this long-term aim, the government is currently developing a new approach to qualifications, considering all routes which are available to young people, to ensure that the qualifications that they study for are rigorous, relevant and bear comparison with the best in the world. As part of this I have asked Professor Wolf to consider how we can improve vocational education for 14- to 19-year-olds to support participation and progression, specifically: how vocational education for 14- to 19-year-olds can be improved; what the appropriate target audience for vocational education is; what principles should underpin the content, structure and teaching methods of the vocational education offer and how progression from vocational education to positive destinations can be improved. The review will not be considering the detailed content of specific qualifications, but will be focusing on the effectiveness of the overall structure of the vocational offer.

    I have asked Professor Wolf to report to me by spring 2011, and to make practical recommendations which will ensure real change and have regard to current financial constraints.

    I have today placed a copy of the letter I have sent to Professor Wolf in the library of the House.

  • PRESS RELEASE : Education Secretary Michael Gove announces review of 14 to 19 vocational education

    PRESS RELEASE : Education Secretary Michael Gove announces review of 14 to 19 vocational education

    The press release issued by the Department for Education on 9 September 2010.

    Education Secretary Michael Gove today announced a major independent review of vocational education for 14- to 19-year-olds, which is to be led by Professor Alison Wolf of King’s College London.

    Mr Gove said that for too long vocational qualifications had not been properly valued and that a gap had been left in the country’s skills base as a result.

    Professor Wolf will look at the organisation of vocational education and its responsiveness to a changing labour market, and consider ways to increase incentives for young people to participate. The review will also take explicit account of good practice in a selection of developed economies.

    Professor Wolf will examine

    institutional arrangements
    funding mechanisms including arrangements for who bears the cost of qualifications
    progression from vocational education to work, higher education and higher level training
    the role of the third sector, private providers, employers and awarding bodies.
    She is due to submit a final report in spring 2011, which will include recommendations on how vocational education can be improved.

    Michael Gove, who today announced the review in a speech to the independent education foundation, Edge, said:

    For many years our education system has failed properly to value practical education, choosing to give far greater emphasis to purely academic achievements. This has left a gap in the country’s skills base and, as a result, a shortage of appropriately trained and educated young people to fulfil the needs of our employers. To help support our economic recovery, we need to ensure this position does not continue and that in future we are able to meet the needs of our labour market.

    To enable us to achieve this long-term aim, we are currently developing a new approach to qualifications, considering all routes which are available to young people, to ensure the qualifications they study for are rigorous, relevant and bear comparison with the best in the world.

    Professor Wolf is highly experienced in this field and has all the credentials required to lead this review.

    Professor Wolf said:

    Our current arrangements for 14-19 education are highly bureaucratic and inflexible. They also make it very difficult to encourage excellence in anything which is not conventionally academic: writing about people doing things gets rewarded more than actually doing them.

    Rigid systems are particularly undesirable at a time when the labour market and the economy are in a state of constant change. We need to make it possible for vocational education, and educators, to respond easily to the real requirements of the labour market. I hope this review will identify principles and institutions which promote this and help all young people to progress in the world of work, throughout their lives.

    Lord Baker, the Chairman of Edge, said:

    We welcome this review; it is high time that we are able to ensure that all young people have both choice and quality in their education allowing them to pursue their own individual path to success. This start must include high-level vocational courses, ones that are taught to high standards in high class institutions. One such example is the university technical colleges, which will recruit young people at 14 and allow them to study a highly regarded, technically oriented course in a specialist college. We look forward to seeing the results of the review and playing our part in changing the educational landscape for the better.

    Professor Wolf will conduct a public call for evidence, which will be made by the end of September.

     

  • PRESS RELEASE : Statement from Schools Minister Nick Gibb on single level test pilot

    PRESS RELEASE : Statement from Schools Minister Nick Gibb on single level test pilot

    The press release issued by the Department for Education on 7 September 2010.

    Schools Minister Nick Gibb today said the pilot of single level tests was ending after three years of trials.

    Mr Gibb said:

    The pilot has run for three years and that has allowed us to gain a sufficient amount of evidence about single level tests that we do not need to continue the trials any further. This evidence, including evaluations of the pilot, will feed into the forthcoming review of assessment in primary schools.

    The Coalition Government is committed to external assessment and a testing system that is robust, accurate and rigorous, gives parents and professionals the valuable information they need to gauge standards of our primary schools and their pupils, and plays a vital role in accountability.

    I would like to thank all pupils, schools and local authorities who have taken part in the pilot for their hard work over the last three years.

    Single level tests were developed in English reading, English writing and mathematics for pupils in Years 3 to 6. They are designed to assess knowledge, skills and understanding at a specific, single National Curriculum level (level 3, 4, 5 or 6). Teachers enter pupils for a test in December or June, when they judge that the pupil is ready, rather than waiting until the end of Key Stage 2. The pilot began in September 2007.

    The 10 local authorities involved in the pilot are: Westminster, Bexley, Solihull, Liverpool, Calderdale, South Tyneside, East Sussex, Leicestershire, Essex and Gloucestershire. Each local authority has a pilot leader to evaluate, support and advise schools on all aspects of the single level tests.

  • John Hayes – 2010 Transforming Lives Speech

    John Hayes – 2010 Transforming Lives Speech

    The speech made by John Hayes, the then Education Minister, at the British Library in London on 7 September 2010.

    Good afternoon everyone. It’s a great pleasure for me to join you all today in welcoming the launch of Transforming Lives. I also want to take this opportunity to congratulate NIACE and indeed everyone involved in the Transformation Fund projects from which the report has sprung.

    Of course, this project began last year under the previous government. But as many of you can confirm, I’ve been an advocate of informal adult and community learning for long enough to know that any initiative that improves our understanding of adult learners and their needs must be welcomed, irrespective of whose idea it was.

    What matters most is what the project has achieved and what lessons we can learn from it as we look towards the future.

    For me, you don’t need to look further than the front cover of the report to find the key to what follows.

    That’s because, as I hope all of us here today know, learning is capable not just of changing lives, but of completely transforming them.

    I’m not just talking about the fact that learning brings the qualifications needed to get a higher- rather than lower-paid job. It seems to me horribly reductive to express, as I know some do, the benefits of learning only in terms of lifetime earnings differentials. And it seems to me just plain wrong to measure everything that a person acquires during the learning journey only by its effect on the thickness of their pay-packet.

    It makes me sad when, for example, I read about the new graduates who’ve been unable to find the sorts of jobs they’d hoped for this summer and last. And I can assure them that my colleagues and I are working hard to ensure that they can get a foot on their chosen career-ladder sooner rather than later. But at the same time I hope that those young people also recognise how their years of study and the experiences these have brought have transformed them as individuals.

    Since John Henry Newman at least, I think there has been general recognition that a real university education must be about far more than just acquiring a passport to a white collar and a tie, that its value lies also in how much it does to enrich the content of students’ characters.

    That same effect ought also to be evident in patently vocational forms of training. Now some people refuse to recognise that vocational training can have anything other than employment-related benefits. But I’ve certainly seen for myself as I’ve gone round the country over the summer how, for example, apprentices develop not only practical skills, but also a sense of their own achievement, of pride in what they have accomplished, and of self-worth.

    That’s not just good for themselves and their employers. In the long run, it benefits all of us and the society in which we live.

    So the transformational power of learning is shown both in how learning spreads opportunity and in how it spreads civilisation. But it’s also shown in the element of personal choice, personal responsibility and personal empowerment that learning entails. And that’s especially true of the less formal types of learning.

    That is something of which the Transforming Lives report reminds us very forcefully.

    There are three other important messages that I’d like to draw out from it.

    The first is that in this area, a little money can achieve a lot, particularly if we are prepared to innovate and to trust people at the front line to organise learning in ways that suit their needs rather than conforming to some centralised model.

    It’s hardly a secret that money is going to be in short supply, even in priority areas like education as the Government works to bring the public spending deficit under control. And we all know that cuts will have to be made, although details of where they will fall won’t be finalised until George Osborne and Danny Alexander publish the outcome of the Spending Review next month.

    This isn’t a government that believes, like Aeschylus, that “he who learns must suffer”. But it would be idle to assume that some spending decisions won’t have an impact on education, including on informal learning.

    And it follows that, unless we are prepared in future to contemplate a choice between the Scylla of learning for the few and the Charybdis of learning on the cheap – which I for one am not – we should look urgently for more creative ways to engage both learners and providers.

    That implies, for one thing, making much better use of the local resources we have, engaging a wider range of partners in facilitating learning at community level, and making it easier for grass-roots initiatives to flourish. A good example of the sort of initiative I’m talking about was launched only a couple of weeks ago. The Cafe Culture campaign aims to encourage employers to offer informal learning opportunities at work to their staff. So far, it has involved some 64 companies covering almost two million workers.

    The second important message from Transforming Lives that I want to highlight is that there remains enormous demand for informal learning. And I take comfort from that, because a nation that wants to learn is a nation that is going forward rather than backwards.

    It’s a nation that’s already, by virtue of its people own free will, taking its future into its own hands. Sometimes the State can play a useful role in that, but most often the impetus comes from individuals.

    There’s literally no limit to the range of forms this can take. From the pub landlord who provides space for the local book club to the employer who makes a room available for the lunchtime learning circle. From the housebound person whose isolation is reduced when they discover email or Facebook to the person with depression who finds relief through art or photography.

    These sorts of activities and many others like them make our society a happier and healthier place, and this country a better one in which to live.

    The third and final point from the report that I want to highlight follows from the first two. And it’s that the strength of informal adult and community learning stems precisely from its diversity.

    Like nature itself, in Pascal’s definition, informal learning is “an infinite sphere, the centre of which is everywhere and the circumference nowhere”. Like the internet, with its profusion of interconnected yet free-standing networks, informal learning might have been designed to survive even the biggest catastrophe.

    And that’s perhaps a good point on which to close, because my own long experience of informal adult and community learning has taught me above all else that it has an enviable ability not just to survive, but to adapt and grow. As if to spite those governments that have tried to kill it with neglect as well as those that have tried to kill it with regulation, it not only lives on, but thrives.

    Transforming Lives reminds us of all this and of the essential role that adult and community learning must play in creating a better, more inclusive, more content, more confident and, indeed, bigger society.

    Thank you.

     

  • PRESS RELEASE : Michael Gove’s written ministerial statement relating to new Free School proposals

    PRESS RELEASE : Michael Gove’s written ministerial statement relating to new Free School proposals

    The press release issued by the Department for Education on 6 September 2010.

    Michael Gove MP, Secretary of State for Education, has today laid a written ministerial statement informing Parliament that the first 16 Free School proposals are ready to progress to the next stage of the process and develop a full business case and plan.

    The statement outlines the next steps in the process for the proposers and lists the proposals approved to go forward to business case and plan stage in full.

    Innovation in Pupil Place Planning

    Today I am announcing the first 16 Free School proposals to progress to the next stage of the process and develop a full business case and plan.

    We need to reform our education system if we are to accelerate improvement to keep pace with the highest performing systems of the world and ensure that every pupil growing up in this country gets a better chance of achieving their potential. Free Schools form an integral part of the Government’s education policy to improve choice for parents and raise standards for all young people.

    The proposals I have agreed to move forward to business case and plan stage today represent a diverse mix: there are parent-led, community-led, sponsor-led and teacher-led proposals; there are faith and non-faith proposals; there are proposals for large secondary schools and for small primary schools. All of these proposals have been driven by demand from local people for improved choice for their young people and I am delighted that so many promising proposals have come forward at such an early stage.

    I hope that many of the projects progressing today will become the first Free Schools in September 2011. This is a challenging timescale, and some groups may decide that it is preferable to open at a later date for practical reasons. To support groups in meeting the robust requirements of the business case and plan stage, we will now be providing the proposers that progress to this stage with support co-ordinated by a named contact within my Department. At the next stage, proposers will need to make a fully detailed business case for the new school and set out their plans for opening and operating the proposed school. I will make an assessment based on this final business case on whether to allow a new school to be set up.

    The proposals announced today are just the start of our Free Schools programme. My Department has received a number of promising proposals for 2012 and 2013 and we will be making further announcements about taking these forward in due course. New proposals are frequently being submitted to the Department. We want it to be open to a diverse range of groups to come forward with proposals which meet the needs of their local area, and for proposals to progress at the pace which is right for both proposers and for parents and young people in the local area.

    The 16 proposals approved to go forward to business case and plan stage are (in alphabetical order):

    Bedford and Kempston Free School, Bedford Borough
    The Childcare Company, Slough
    Discovery New School, West Sussex
    The Free School Norwich, Norfolk
    Haringey Jewish Primary School, Haringey
    I-Foundation Primary School, Leicester
    King’s Science Academy, Bradford
    Mill Hill Jewish Primary School, Barnet
    Nishkam Education Trust, Birmingham
    North Westminster Free School (ARK), Westminster
    Priors Marston and Priors Hardwick School, Warwickshire
    Rivendale Free School, Hammersmith and Fulham
    St. Luke’s School, Camden
    Stour Valley Community School, Suffolk
    West London Free School, Ealing or Hammersmith and Fulham
    Wormholt North Hammersmith Free School (ARK), Hammersmith and Fulham (to be known as Burlington Primary Academy)
    I will update the House as these projects progress further.

  • PRESS RELEASE : 142 schools to convert to academy status weeks after Academies Act passed

    PRESS RELEASE : 142 schools to convert to academy status weeks after Academies Act passed

    The press release issued by the Department for Education on 1 September 2010.

    Michael Gove, Education Secretary, today announced that 142 schools have accepted the Government’s offer to become an academy since the Academies Act became law just over a month ago. These schools have made a commitment to work with other schools and share their expertise. This is the first wave of converters in a rolling process that allows schools to convert at any stage.

    The running total of schools that will become academies this academic year is 216 so far. The current breakdown is as follows:

    • 142 schools converting to become academies: 32 are opening this week and a further 110 schools have had Academy Orders signed which means they are on track to convert to academies over the coming months.
    • Of the 142, there are 7 primary schools which become the first ever primary academies to open. The Government has said that special schools will also be allowed to become academies from next year.
    • 64 new academies replace failing schools this September plus a further 10 opening by April 2011.

    This is record progress; it took five years for 15 city technology colleges to open, and four years for the first 27 academies to open.

    Michael Gove said:

    This Government believes that teachers and headteachers, not politicians and bureaucrats, should control schools and have more power over how they are run. That’s why we are spreading academy freedoms. This will give heads more power to tackle disruptive children, to protect and reward teachers better, and to give children the specialist teaching they need.

    This year’s GCSE results saw academy pupils improving at nearly three times the historic rate of state school improvement.

    Heads of new academies today welcomed their new freedoms:

    Patricia Sowter, Head of Cuckoo Hall Primary School, Edmonton, said:

    With the new academy freedoms we will continue to develop our autonomy and take the school forward in what is an area of London that faces significant challenges and disadvantage. We will now have the flexibility to adapt and extend the curriculum, target resources more effectively, deploy specialist staff and above all build sustainable capacity to ensure continued and long term outstanding educational provision, to best meet the needs of our children and wider school community.

    Cuckoo Hall remains committed to supporting and working with other schools to improve children’s achievement. As an academy, Cuckoo Hall aims to build long term sustainable capacity to continue its effective work with other schools, and will seek to widen its impact on overall school improvement.

    Greg Martin, Executive Head of Durand Academy, Lambeth, said:

    Becoming an academy is so important for us at Durand. We are proud to deliver an outstanding education for our pupils, in an area with one of the highest levels of social deprivation in the UK. The freedom that academy status brings will allow us to deliver and develop a flexible curriculum to ensure that these children reach their full potential and achieve the very best. We look forward to using our academy freedoms to work with other schools to raise levels of attainment across the board.

    David Hampson, Principal of Tollbar Business and Enterprise College, Grimbsy, said:

    The benefits of becoming an academy will be enormous – less bureaucracy certainly but also more resources which we ourselves will be able to manage. We are very happy to embrace the requirement to associate ourselves with less successful schools and indeed we already have been working with a number of other schools locally and nationally, sharing our winning ways. In fact, Tollbar, as Tollbar Edge, are the sponsors of another academy which replaces a local school in special measures. We believe that we have already demonstrated our ability to run a highly successful establishment and this fantastic initiative will certainly help us to offer even more to the young people in our care.

    Dr John Marincowitz Head of the Queen Elizabeth’s School, Barnet, said:

    We are delighted with our new status as an academy. Greater autonomy brings significant beneficial opportunities. For example, greater freedom to decide the curriculum will enable Queen Elizabeth’s to secure a suitably academic curriculum that is geared more accurately to the needs of our pupils. Similarly, greater autonomy means we can now ensure that the resources and services we purchase are appropriate for the school and more closely aligned to the specific requirements of our pupils. We also look forward to bolstering the support we already provide to local schools as a specialist Training School and especially Northgate Hospital School with whom we have an established relationship.

    Helen Hyde, Head of Watford Grammar School for Girls, Hertfordshire, and President of Foundation, Aided Schools and Academies National Association (FASNA), said:

    I am very excited by the new challenges and opportunities that are created by becoming an academy. We will use the freedoms and autonomy to improve the educational provision for our students as well as form new partnerships with schools who would like to work with us both in the UK and abroad.

  • PRESS RELEASE : Pupil absence statistics for spring term 2010

    PRESS RELEASE : Pupil absence statistics for spring term 2010

    The press release issued by the Department for Education on 26 August 2010.

    Latest statistics for spring term 2010 show a decrease in overall absence rates in both primary and secondary schools compared to spring term 2009. This follows decreases in spring 2008 and spring 2009.

    Authorised absence rates decreased in both primary and secondary schools. Unauthorised absence rates increased in primary schools and decreased in secondary schools.

    Schools minister Nick Gibb said:

    The small fall in the overall absence rate in all schools, and in unauthorised absence in secondary schools, in spring term 2010 is very welcome, but the level of absenteeism in schools is still too high.

    The Government has committed to tackling the underlying causes of absenteeism, raising academic standards and ensuring every child can meet their potential, regardless of their background. It’s crucial that children are not missing out on valuable lessons that could leave them vulnerable to falling behind. We are putting in place a series of measure to raise standards of behaviour, to put head teachers and teachers back in control of the classroom, and to get tougher on parents and pupils who do not abide by the rules.

    We are also introducing the first ever pupil premium to provide additional funding for more disadvantaged pupils so that they benefit from the same opportunities as their more affluent peers. We need to ensure that all pupils have the basic skills of reading, writing and maths before they reach secondary school.

  • PRESS RELEASE : Gove – Building Schools for the Future sample projects get go-ahead and further confirmation given to academies

    PRESS RELEASE : Gove – Building Schools for the Future sample projects get go-ahead and further confirmation given to academies

    The press release issued by the Department for Education on 6 August 2010.

    Education Secretary Michael Gove today announced the go-ahead for a series of new school projects. 33 local authority ‘sample’ school projects in 14 council regions will now proceed in Barking and Dagenham, Blackpool, Camden, Derby City, Ealing, Halton, Hartlepool, Hertfordshire, Lambeth, Oldham, Poole, Somerset, St Helens and Wandsworth.

    Another 119 academies – schools being given new sponsors to raise attainment for the most disadvantaged – are also intended to go ahead. Ministers have been working with sponsors to ensure they can move forward with their academies, each designed to raise standards in areas of particular need. The 44 academies at the most advanced stage in their capital planning with Partnerships for Schools will receive capital now. Capital allocations for the remaining 75 will be decided in the Spending Review. Sponsors of these academies will be working with the Department to reduce costs over the next few months.

    To ensure best value for money in school projects, the Government has begun working with major companies from the construction industry to help reduce building costs, which, alongside the independent capital review will provide a genuinely robust, efficient and fair system for future school building projects.

    As the Coalition Government has made clear, deficit reduction and continuing to ensure economic recovery is the most urgent issue facing Britain. That’s why the Government has taken the difficult decisions necessary to equip Britain for long-term success. In the long term, and following the wider capital review, the Government wants money to reach a local level quicker, so that money reaches the schools that need it the most.

    Michael Gove, Education Secretary, said:

    I’m delighted that the sample schools and academy projects are going ahead, and I hope that local authorities and schools will welcome this news. This is good news for those schools.

    I know how hard councils and schools have worked on these projects and I have been anxious to ensure we can do everything we can, in difficult economic times, to support the crucial work of raising educational standards. Planning for these projects is well advanced and we are keen they should proceed without further delay. I’m determined that we press ahead with the Academies programme and want all those schools identified as future academies to enjoy the freedoms and benefits academy status brings.

    We will also work with councils, sponsors and the construction industry to ensure we bear down on costs and bureaucracy so every new school is built in as cost-effective and efficient a way as possible, and I am delighted that they have already responded so positively to this challenge.

    Speaking today, John McDonough, of Carillion plc, said:

    The private sector welcomes the opportunity to apply its experience and skills to demonstrate how it can reduce costs and improve value for money in the delivery of public sector building projects in the future, and we look forward to sharing our knowledge and experience with the Capital Review Team.

    Tim Byles, Chief Executive of Partnerships for Schools, said:

    I am very pleased that today’s announcement means the continuation of all the Building Schools for the Future sample schemes. Schools, local authorities and the private sector have worked hard to progress these projects and this will be welcome news for communities across the country.

    Major academy sponsors also welcomed today’s announcement, saying they stand ready to take on more projects over the next few years.

    Dan Moynihan, Chief Executive of the Harris Federation, said:

    We know from direct and hard-won experience that the current method of getting new school buildings is unwieldy, over bureaucratic and too expensive. We welcome the Government’s commitment to getting better value for money from the process and we are delighted that ministers are pressing ahead with the Academies programme. Academies have a great track record in turning round under-achievement and today’s announcement means more children will benefit from the freedoms and excellence academies embody. We look forward to the programme going further and faster in the months ahead.

    Sir Ewan Harper of the United Learning Trust said:

    The Government have been working closely with us and other academy providers to raise standards and get better value for taxpayers’ money.

    We’re in a position now to go forward, giving more children in disadvantaged circumstances a better education at a faster pace than ever.

    Cllr Edward Lister, Leader of Wandsworth Council said:

    We’re delighted that all the sample schemes now have the go-ahead. The Building Schools for the Future model has forced councils to waste millions jumping though bureaucratic hoops before any building work could get underway. At Wandsworth we have some very good ideas about how to meet the challenge of ensuring value for money for the taxpayer and are looking forward to giving evidence to the review team in the weeks ahead.

    At the time of last month’s capital announcement all projects past the financial close stage of BSF were given the go-ahead to proceed, with other schools earlier in the process stopped.

    A further group of schools and academies required more detailed assessment because they were at crucial points of development.

    The sample schools, pilot projects in local authorities who have yet to commence wider building programmes, are BSF projects at an advanced stage which had not yet reached ‘financial close’.

    These discussions have been bolstered by the positive contribution made by leading construction companies, who have agreed to ensure they bear down on building costs wherever possible over the next few years.

    The Government has been clear that the end of the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme does not signal the end of new school buildings. BSF accounted for just a third of all the money spent on education capital investments. The Government is committed to ensuring there is a fairer, more effective and more efficient system for allocating capital money to schools, to best meet the need of the schools system.

    Last month the Government announced the creation of a capital review led by Sebastian James, Group Operations Director of DSG International plc, to look at all areas of the Department’s capital spending.

    The aim of the review is to ensure that future capital investment is better value for money, less bureaucratic and more cost efficient. It will give priority to schools with the greatest need and seek to address rising primary school numbers.

    Today, Sebastian James issued a call for evidence to inform his review. Views are being sought from all interested parties including schools, local authorities, construction industry and academy sponsors.

    Sebastian James said:

    I believe that there is a chance for us all to make a real difference to how hard we can make any available capital work for us, and the speed that we can change the learning environment for our children.

    I am excited to be working with a team with great experience and commitment and the views that we can harvest from this call for evidence will be extremely helpful in shaping the thinking for the future. I hope that we will see a strong response from a wide range of people.

    The call for evidence runs from 6 August to 17 September 2010 and can be accessed at the Department’s consultations website. The Capital Review Team will report to ministers in mid-September and a forward plan for capital investment over the next spending review period will be produced by the end of the calendar year.